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STATE STREET CORP. $68 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 423.5 million; Market cap: $28.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to large institutional investors, like mutual funds and pension plans.

The company’s fee income rises and falls with the value of the mutual funds and other securities it administers. Thanks to improving stock markets and new contracts, its assets under custody and administration rose to $28.4 trillion as of June 30, 2014, up 10.3% from a year earlier.

These gains offset the lower interest income the company earned on bank deposits and certain securities. As a result, its overall revenue rose 3.7% in the three months ended June 30, 2014, to $2.7 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier.

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $162 (New York symbol IBM, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 997.6 million; Market cap: $161.6 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ibm.com) is selling its computer chip manufacturing operations to Globalfoundries Inc.

However, IBM will not get any payment for these assets. Instead, it will pay $1.5 billion to Globalfoundries to take over this money-losing business. IBM has also agreed to buy chips from Globalfoundries for the next 10 years.

This move is part of IBM’s plan to focus on its more-profitable computer services and software divisions.

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PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $84 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $226.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) began operating in 1837 and is now one of the world’s largest makers of household and personal care products.

The company has five main business lines: fabric and home care products, such as Tide laundry detergent and Duracell batteries (32% of fiscal 2014 sales, 26% of earnings); baby and family care goods, including Pampers diapers (25%, 25%); beauty items like Olay cosmetics (24%, 23%); grooming products, including Gillette razors (10%, 17%); and health care items, such as Crest toothpaste (9%, 9%). Wal-Mart accounts for 14% of the company’s sales.

Procter’s sales rose 6.6%, from $78.9 billion in 2010 to $84.2 billion in 2013 (fiscal years end June 30). However, sales fell 1.3%, to $83.1 billion, in 2014. That’s because Procter sold 80% of its pet food business to Mars, Inc. for $2.9 billion. It expects to complete the sale of the remaining 20% in 2015.

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Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific stock investing advice, as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. We give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of the specific buy, hold and sell advice we offer you in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. Last week an Inner Circle member asked us whether a well-known watch and jewellery distributor is a “steal” after its share price slumped following a recent surge. Movado does not make watches, but sells and distributes them under its own brand and through notable designer names. Pat assesses the company’s business and its growing market share and looks at Movado’s prospects of maintaining its leading position in the $500 to $1,500 price range for watches. Q: Movado is a steal, or so it appears: it surged to around $44 but has now slumped. Is this a buy, or are the fundamentals wrong in this overly competitive fashion business?...

Retirement is a subject we’re asked about all the time. And it’s one that we deal with on a practical day-to-day basis with our Successful Investor Wealth Management clients. That’s why I’ve just released a new Special Report: Your 12-Step Countdown to the Retirement You Want. Just like our other Special Reports, we make it available to our readers free of charge. You can download it here. In this report, we present a progression of 12 steps that successful investors take to ensure a secure and rewarding retirement. A fulfilling retirement is not simply a matter of accumulating sufficient wealth to give you peace of mind. It is equally a matter of knowing what you will do—in effect, ensuring that you will be as active and productive with your time as you were during your working days....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of strategy, including stock trading advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Frequent portfolio turnover is a drain on your profits, so most of your investments should be ones you want to hold on to indefinitely.”...

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. VERESEN (Toronto symbol VSN; www.vereseninc.com) owns pipelines, power plants and gas-processing facilities across North America. A major holding is 50% of the Alliance gas line, which runs 3,000 kilometres between Chicago and Fort St. John, B.C. Veresen also owns the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, 42.7% of the Aux Sable NGL plant, and the Hythe/Steeprock natural gas gathering and processing complex in the Cutbank Ridge region of Alberta and B.C....

Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Leisureworld Senior Care Corp., $13.28, symbol LW on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 36.3 million; Market cap: $481.6 million; www.leisureworld.ca), is one of Canada’s largest operators of seniors’ housing and the biggest licensed long-term care provider in Ontario....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific investment advice, as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. We give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of the specific buy, hold and sell advice we offer you in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. Recently an Inner Circle member asked us about a leading Canadian specialty food maker. Premium Brands draws two-thirds of its revenue from retail and the rest from food services. The company continues to expand aggressively and Pat assesses the flurry of acquisitions it has made in recent years. He considers the high debt Premium has assumed to make its acquisitions and whether it can continue to maintain its high dividend. Q: Pat: Can you please give me your opinion of Premium Brands for income and gains in the specialty food sector? Thanks....

CALIAN TECHNOLOGIES $18.40 (Toronto symbol CTY; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (613- 599-8600; www.calian.com; Shares outstanding: 7.3 million; Market cap: $138.7 million; Dividend yield: 6.1%) operates in two areas: the business and technology services division (which supplies 70% of the company’s revenue) provides engineers, health care workers and other skilled professionals on a contract basis. The systems engineering division (30% of revenue) sells hardware and software for testing, operating and managing satellite and other communication systems.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, the company earned $2.9 million, or $0.39 a share. That’s down 12.5% from $3.3 million, or $0.43 a share, a year earlier. Revenue declined 7.4%, to $53.8 million from $58.1 million.

Government clients add stability

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STANTEC INC. $67.93 (Toronto symbol STN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (780-917-7288; www.stantec.com; Shares outstanding: 46.8 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; Dividend yield: 1.1%) sells a range of consulting, project-delivery, design and technology services. Its clients operate in a variety of industries, including oil and gas, transportation and construction.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Stantec’s revenue rose 13.0%, to $530.3 million from $469.4 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 22.6%, to $44.3 million, or $0.95 a share, from $36.1 million, or $0.78.

Timely move into Quebec

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ZARGON OIL & GAS $6.03 (Toronto symbol ZAR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403- 264-9992; www.zargon.ca; Shares outstanding: 30.2 million; Market cap: $183.5 million; Dividend yield: 11.9%) produces natural gas and oil in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. Its output is 62% oil and 38% gas.

Zargon continues to sell properties to fund high development spending at its alkaline surfactant polymer (ASP) enhanced oil recovery project at Little Bow, Alberta. ASP is a new process that floods oil wells with a chemical mixture when water is no longer effective. The alkali in the mixture penetrates the rock and frees trapped oil.

This project is costly, and it’s diverting funds from Zargon’s conventional oil drilling. That’s lowering the company’s cash flow— per-share cash flow fell 26.4% in the latest quarter, to $0.39 from $0.53 a year ago.

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BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $5.24 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403- 266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 191.1 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; No dividends paid) is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange, also under the BXE symbol.

Bellatrix originally listed its common shares on the NYSE MKT (formerly the American Stock Exchange) on September 20, 2012. Switching to the main New York exchange should raise its profile and increase its liquidity.

The company has also formed a new joint venture with Grafton Asset Management. Under the deal, Grafton will contribute $250 million toward the development of some of Bellatrix’s extensive landholdings in Alberta. Bellatrix will also commit $250 million. To put that in context, Bellatrix’s cash flow was $148.7 million, or $0.84 a share, in the first half of 2014.

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ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $58.52 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340- 777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.9 million; Market cap: $914.6 million; Yield: 2.0%) raised its quarterly dividend by 7.4%, to $0.29 a share from $0.27, with the October 2014 payment. It now yields 2.0%.

Atlantic closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) late last year. It now holds cash of $407.6 million, or $24.64 a share, and has paid off its $271.1 million of debt.

The company could use its high cash balance to make acquisitions or expand its remaining operations. It could also make further dividend increases or pay special dividends.

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TRILOGY ENERGY CORP. $20.22 (Toronto symbol TET; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-290-2900; www.trilogyenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 105.1 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) reported production of 36,187 barrels of oil equivalent a day (including gas) in the quarter ended June 30, 2014. That’s down 2.7% from 37,209 barrels a year earlier. Cash flow per share rose 9.6%, to $0.80 from $0.73, as higher oil and gas prices offset the production drop.

The company plans to spend $375 million on exploration this year, down 5.5% from the $397 million it spent in 2013. As well, it’s now focusing on its shale oil prospects at Kaybob, Alberta and spending less on its more mature oil pools in the same area.

That shift could push Trilogy’s average daily output to over 42,000 barrels late next year, but it will continue to weigh on the company’s production growth in the meantime.

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CIMAREX ENERGY $106.95 (New York symbol XEC; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (303-295-3995; www.cimarex.com; Shares outstanding: 87.0 million; Market cap: $9.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.6%) produces and explores for natural gas and oil. Gas makes up 48% of the company’s output.

Cimarex’s properties are mostly in the Wolfcamp shale area of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, and the Cana-Woodford shale area in western Oklahoma.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, the company’s production averaged 838.7 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day (including oil). That’s up 22.1% from 686.8 million cubic feet a year earlier.

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DEVON ENERGY CORP. $55.14 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-235- 3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 409.1 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 48% gas and 52% oil.

In 2011, Devon sold all of its international and Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop.

The company narrowed its focus even further with the July 2014 sale of some of its properties to Linn Energy for $2.3 billion. The sale included Devon’s holdings in the Rockies, the onshore Gulf Coast and the Mid-Continent region (which includes Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas).

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MCCOY GLOBAL $5.00 (Toronto symbol MCB; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780- 453-8451; www.mccoyglobal.com; Shares outstanding: 27.7 million; Market cap: $142.7 million; Dividend yield: 4.0%) has now sold its Inotec Coatings and Hydraulics business for $9.3 million. Inotec makes coatings for oil and gas drilling tools and mining equipment. It also repairs and maintains hydraulic cylinders.

This deal follows McCoy’s sale of its mobile solutions unit earlier this year and completes the company’s shift toward its faster growing and more profitable energy products and services segment.

This business sells hydraulic gear, including power tongs, for drilling rigs. (Power tongs are large wrench-like tools that tighten and loosen the pipe in the drill hole.)

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ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $62.19 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-536-6000; www.adobe.com; Shares outstanding: 498.7 million; Market cap: $30.4 billion; No dividends paid) reported a 12.5% earnings decline in the quarter ended August 29, 2014, to $0.28 a share from $0.32 a year earlier. Revenue rose 1.0%, to $1.0 billion from $995.1 million.

The company continues to shift away from selling software as a one-time purchase and toward a subscription model. That hurts Adobe’s short-term sales and profits, but it should bring more predictable revenue streams as users continue to switch over.

The stock now trades at 30.8 times the $2.02 a share that Adobe will likely earn in 2015. That’s a high p/e ratio for a company that mainly serves customers in cyclical businesses like publishing.

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FAIR ISAAC CORP. $54.86 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 32.1 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, the program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling programs that help credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns.

In its fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2014, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share rose 9.1%, to $0.60 from $0.55 a year ago.

Revenue gained 7.5%, to $197.6 million from $183.8 million. The company saw stronger sales at its main applications division (66% of the total) on increased licensing revenue from software that detects bank fraud. That offset a decline in sales of creditscoring software and customized programs for analyzing large amounts of a business’s data.

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BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $39.39 (New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 119.5 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. and Canada.

Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $114.6 million, or $1.16 a share, in its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2014. That’s up 1.5% from $142.4 million, or $1.15 a share, a year earlier.

Overall revenue gained 2.4%, to $885.9 million from $865.1 million. Revenue from contracts that pay recurring fees rose 7% and accounted for two-thirds of the total. The remaining third comes from one-time events, such as notifications of special shareholder meetings and distributing information when mutual funds change managers.

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IAMGOLD $2.80 (Toronto symbol IMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-888-464-9999; www.iamgold.com; Shares outstanding: 376.7 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; No dividends paid) is selling its Niobec niobium mine in Quebec’s Saguenay- Lac-Saint-Jean region. When used as an additive, niobium makes steel stronger, more heat-resistant and easier to weld.

The company will receive $500 million U.S. when the sale closes later this year. It will get another $30 million U.S. when an adjacent deposit of rare earth elements goes into production.

Following the sale, the company will hold cash and gold bullion worth over $800 million U.S. That puts IAMGold in a strong position to pay down its long-term debt of $641 million U.S.

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AMERIGO RESOURCES $0.37 (Toronto symbol ARG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.amerigoresources.com; Shares outstanding: 173.7 million; Market cap: $66.0 million; No dividends paid) processes copper and molybdenum from waste rock at Chile’s El Teniente, the world’s largest underground copper mine. This includes rock from the mine’s current production and tailings from the nearby Colihues deposit. This contract runs at least through 2037.

Amerigo gets 94% of its revenue by processing copper. The remaining 6% comes from molybdenum.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Amerigo’s copper output fell 2.2%, to 9.34 million pounds from 9.55 million a year earlier. Molybdenum production declined 13.5%, to 152,340 pounds from 176,845.

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AURICO GOLD $4.36 (Toronto symbol AUQ; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.auricogold.com; Shares outstanding: 248.5 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.4%) operates the El Chanate gold mine in Mexico. The company also started up its Young-Davidson gold project in northern Ontario last year. It’s now at full production.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, AuRico’s production jumped 47.2%, to 56,198 ounces from 38,186 ounces a year earlier. That increased its revenue by 31.0%, to $75.5 million from $57.7 million.

Cash flow per share declined to $0.05 from $0.08. The company’s costs rose as it moved from open pit to underground mining at Young-Davidson, but they should fall as AuRico completes the mine’s new infrastructure.

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SYMANTEC CORP. $22.15 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-517- 8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 690.3 million; Market cap: $15.5 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) plans to break itself into two publicly traded companies.

One will keep the Symantec name and focus on antivirus and security software and services. The other will consist of its information management (IM) operations, which include data backup and recovery software.

Symantec aims to hand out shares in the IM business by the end of 2015.

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